36 Commercial Gardening 



usually money enough to enter the fruit trade. The expense of laying 

 down a Raspberry plantation is heavy. The following are normal 

 figures: 



s. d. 

 Preparing the land, which includes ploughing, grubbing, 



harrowing, drilling, &c. ... ... ... ... 1 6 per acre. 



10 tons farmyard manure at 10s. per ton ... ... 5 



Carting manure to fields ... ... ... ..060 



8000 Raspberry canes at 1 per 1000 800 



Spreading manure and planting canes ... ... ... 1 8 



16~0~0 



In Scotland, larch posts are inserted, not when the 

 bushes are planted, but the following year, along 

 every drill, at a distance of 20 yd. from each other. 

 Wires are attached to the posts, and the canes are 

 spread out and tied to these wires. The cost of this 

 has to be added to the foregoing figures : 



200 posts at 5d. each 434 



5 cwt. wire at 1 2s. per hundredweight ... ... ... 3 



Labour connected with the posting and wiring ... 013 



Total 23 16 4 



There are, of course, other items. There is the cleaning of the planta- 

 tion during the years the fruit bushes are coming into bearing. There is 

 the cost of implements and barrels. There are rent and taxes. By the 

 third year the year in which the bushes will have become profitable the 

 grower has expended between 50 and 60 per acre. Every year after- 

 wards the working expenses, apart altogether from rent, taxes, and manure, 

 are a severe strain on a poor man's resources. Manure is put on by a 

 specially constructed horse cart. The manure is covered, and the surface 

 of the ground between the drills, which are 4 ft. 8 in. to 5 ft. apart, is 

 ploughed with a small Oliver plough. Most of the labour, however, is 

 manual labour. The following are the details of the cost per acre of a 

 year's working. The different items vary in different circumstances. Some- 

 times more work is done by horses and less by men. But the total does not 

 vary much. 



s. d. 



Cutting strings... ... ... ... ... ... 06 per acre. 



Cutting out canes ... ... ... ... ... 15 



Taking out and carrying off canes ... ... ... 070 



Tying canes ... ... ... ... ... ... 126 



Cleaning ground in autumn ... ... ... ... 100 



Putting on farmyard manure ... ... ... ... 080 



Ploughing in autumn ... ... ... ... ... 050 



Cutting tops of canes ... ... ... ... ... 070 



Ploughing back furrows and cultivating in spring ... 050 ,, 



Cleaning twice in summer ... ... ... ... 1 10 



Picking fruit 3 tons at 5, 10s. per ton ... ... 16 10 



Odd jobs ... 050 



Total 23 6 



